Going to order new control arms and struts, but which struts?

[sixernick]

On the struts I'm wondering what would be the best for my 1983 633 CSI. I was looking at either Bilstein HD or Ssachs-boge, I think that their was also a Bilstein comfort. I'm sure that anything will be better then what I have, but I want to make the right choice. The car is not lowered and will not be as long as I'm alive, I like lowerd cars, but getting a lowerd car up some driveways, and with poor roads in Eugene oregon, I just don't want to go there. Anyway, Some people say the Bilstein is too stiff, while others say it is great. I don't race the car, but I love a good handleing car. IE, I have put big sway bars on all of my Volvos. I look forward to getting this done, and having a BMW that actually handles like a BMW.

[JRanmann]

The Billie Sports ARE rather firm and if you are not lowered then the comforts might just suit you...There's a 4 year old pair of Bilies in the Garage Sale thread that should be quite comfortable by now for 20 smackers...

Handling on these cars requires the lowering bit to provide that 'feels like it's on rails' thrill...Life itself is full of similar hard choices... (no pun intended)

Good luck!

[Layne]

I like the bilstein touring class. They're substantially cheaper than the HD's.

[HayekFan]

I just bought a used set of HD's. Supposedly 10k miles on them. I'm hoping they're not too stiff.

[RocketJohn]

HDs are not too stiff

[m6erfan]

My understanding is that the HD and Sport are valved the same, but the Sports are made for shorter sport springs and the HD's are for stock springs. No?

[jrundell]

I would LOVE to get some definitive seat-of-the-pants info that Sports and HDs feel the same or not - if possible.

I just put Sports on my lowered car, and I'm thinking they are too stiff for our crappy MI roads. They DID improve the handling a great deal over the old Boges it had when I got it, so I will stick with the sports and enjoy all the smooth passes I can.

I have a longhood 911S with freshly rebuilt Bilsteins and the ride stiffness is very similar.

As the names imply:
If you want (period) sports car type handling and stiffness, go Sports.
If you want a capable GT car, for everyday driving and long trips I'd go with the Touring.

[jeffcfp1]

From experience, I have used all of the above on my collection of sixers.
Ride Quality:
1. Boge Super Turbos
2. Bilstein Touring (ie the ones I am giving away for $20)
3. Bilstein HD's
4. Sports

I presume our roads are similar, but trust me, RI's are likely worse than yours.

BTW, similar and fairly recent, yet timeless thread on mye28 if you want to search for it. I posted similar reply about the awesome ride from the Boges and rec'd a pm (not sure why he pm'd me instead of posting it publically, perhaps "afraid" to let on in die hard community that ride was more important than handling - and they can be a tough bunch over there) that he totally, unequivacably(sp) agreed with me.

[Taylor Marshall]

Jeff,
Did you ever try HD's combined with lowering springs ? I know in theory one is not supposed to do this but have read some posts over the years that it is very doable and provides a kind of best of both worlds combi for those of us who don't track our cars and live with 4th world quality roads as you may have noticed in your recent trip to here even in your MB .
I'm thinking (maybe wishfully) that the more robust HD valving resists porpoising and bottoming out like touring billies can't when mated with a lowered car.
T.

PS ' unequivocally '

[javistor]

I had the billie's HD on my euro, very nice! Also had the Billie's touring on an E30 that I sold recently and I was very impressed...

[Taylor Marshall]

Was your car lowered too ?
Thanks for input !

[HayekFan]

I called Bilstein a while back to hear what they had to say about some of this stuff. According to the phone rep (who seemed to know what he was talking about, but who knows..) the HD's are identical to the Sports except for the stroke. He said the valving is the same. The short stroke keeps short springs from flopping out of their retainers when the car is on a lift, as apparently can happen with the HD's. Apart from the spring flop issue, HD's work just as well as Sports with lowered setups he said.

[sixseries]

My understanding is that the HD and Sport are valved the same, but the Sports are made for shorter sport springs and the HD's are for stock springs. No?

i believe you are correct.

[jeffcfp1]

Jeff,
Did you ever try HD's combined with lowering springs ? I know in theory one is not supposed to do this but have read some posts over the years that it is very doable and provides a kind of best of both worlds combi for those of us who don't track our cars and live with 4th world quality roads as you may have noticed in your recent trip to here even in your MB .
I'm thinking (maybe wishfully) that the more robust HD valving resists porpoising and bottoming out like touring billies can't when mated with a lowered car.
T.

PS ' unequivocally '

Wow, gaffed that one - at least I knew it was wrong, even googled my spelling and it came up constantly. Yes, the other posters' are correct, same valving, just shorter. If I knew which springs PO put on our silver sixer I could better answer the rest of your question, in that it has billies and lowering springs but rides fairly well and doesn't bottom. I believe the answer for what you are looking for may be the Mtechs or the Paul LaDue recreation of the Dinan's, which are NLA. Oh, and BTW, we found your roads beautiful. RI has the worst.